Handling Workplace Conflict

Scenario 1 - The Rule Bender

Andrew works for a respected engineering firm as an engineer and loves his job. He’s on time to work and
puts in his time to make sure he’s seen as a hard-worker. His co-worker Tim is rarely on time, and tries to find
loopholes whenever possible in order to do the least amount of work possible. Their company has a policy
that if an employee is over 15 minutes late, they must call their supervisor as soon as they sit down at their
desk to make sure they know the employee has arrived. One day, Tim comes in 30 minutes late. Out of
concern for Tim’s job, Andrew says “Hey Tim, I just wanted to remind you to call our supervisor so you don’t
get in trouble.” Tim gets angry and tells Andrew that their supervisor will never know he was late and that it
doesn’t matter.

Employees’ Part

Do –

Don’t –

Employer’s Part

Do –

Don’t -

Scenario 2 - Opposite Personalities

Blake and Aaron work together at a retail store. Blake has been working at the store for two years and Aaron
just started. From the first day, Blake did not like Aaron and has treated him poorly. Aaron is confused
because he has not done anything to Blake to cause contention. Blake constantly makes inappropriate remarks
to Aaron and talks about him to other co-workers. Because Aaron is new to the position, he is unsure how to
handle this particular workplace conflict.

Employee’s Part
Do – Blake should try at least to integrate Aaron in the team, He should be more patient, he should try to
know him before making any remarks
Aaron should try to understand that it’s hard for Blake to accept new coworkers and should have more trust
in himself.

Don’t – Blake shouldn’t be judgmental

Aaron shouldn’t feel upset with his colleague.

Employer’s Part

Do – He/She should try and talk to them separately, and tell them that they should make an effort to work
together as a team.

Don’t – He/She shouldn’t make decisions for their employees

 Interpersonal Communications Conflict Scenarios

You are given a series of actual workplace scenarios detailing interpersonal relationship problems among
individuals working in teams. 
1. define the problem,
2. identify the individual(s) causing the problem
3. develop several solutions that will allow the team to continue to work well together. 

Group 1: A fellow employee, Phil, has not been contributing equally to complete the normal weekly work at
hand. Phil claims he is contributing, but that he is swamped with other work and the emotional aftermath of a
bitter divorce. Some fellow workers are upset that he has been so lax and feel that they should take their
complaints about Phil to the supervisor. You are good friends with Phil and know he’s not lazy but feel that
he may be overdramatizing his problems a bit. Your brought up the topic with Phil over coffee last night, but
he was defensive and maintained his “innocence”…he even accused you of not sympathizing with him.
What alternatives are there to the course of action your fellow employees want to take (filing a complaint
with the supervisor)? How might your suggestions improve the situation without involving the administration
or hurting Phil’s professional reputation?
 

Group 2: Your work group is composed of two women and five men. The two women have brought up a
problem to the group: They feel that the men are dominating the group process and, more importantly, the
decision making. Three of the five men tell you privately that the women are “taking advantage of being
women” to gain power. You know that the women are right and that they are following ethical group process
by bringing up the issue to the group, rather than running to the boss. You feel, however, that you might
jeopardize your own reputation (and future with the company) by supporting them, especially since the
corporation is dominated by men. One of the men in the group appears to be neutral, as far as you can tell.
What are your possibilities?
 - define the problem: discrimination towards women rights,
- identify the individual(s) causing the problem: the three men
- solutions: no-one should not take advantage of their position at work, and they should respect each other
equally no matter of the gender, they should talk about any kind of problems that they have.

Group 3: A fellow worker, Alice, has been reporting to the boss the progress of your group in such a way that
it appears that she is the central force and the “idea person” in the group. This is not true since her
contributions have been about equal to the others. The other group members don’t know she has been
advancing her position in the organization at the expense of others (and maybe even making others look
unproductive). You know what Alice is doing. Alice is slightly above you in rank, and you like her and work
well with her. You feel, however, that her easy and regular access to the boss and inaccurate reporting of the
group’s progress will ultimately undermine the others in the group.
Considering your rank and relationship with Alice, what are your options?
 
Group 4: Recently, you and three or four other members of your group have been increasingly aware of
personal disagreements and unspoken resentments among the people with whom you work. There is no
official procedure to handle such problems, and you realize that, not only is productivity (personal and
collective) suffering, but that everyone appears to be unhappy in general with the declining working
conditions these problems have created. 
You feel the same way and would like to do something to improve the situation. Considering the fact that
these three or four other individuals are also aware of the problem, what can you do?

Using Tactful Language

 For those groups that opted for Scenario 1: Imagine that you and your colleague have argued over who
gets to manage the next team project. Your colleague has run the last two projects, and she wants to
lead this one because it fits with her expertise. Before you insist that you take over this project, think
about her position. She ran the previous projects with professionalism. Also, this project is a perfect fit
for her – you might struggle with it because you don't have her experience.
A tactful response to this conflict would be:

 For those groups that opted for Scenario 1: Your boss asks you to take on some of her workload, so
that she can leave early on Friday. However, your schedule is full and you're not sure you'll get
everything done on time.
A tactful response might be:

 For those groups that opted for Scenario 2: One of your team members is regularly late for work, and
it affects her performance. After another missed deadline, you're tempted to call her out at the staff
meeting. Although this might make you feel better in the short term, it's insensitive.
A more tactful approach would be:
- Instead of calling her out to the staff meeting he should try and talk to her to find out what reasons she’s
being late for and give her the benefit of the doubt.
- He should give her a chance to explain herself and see if he can help her with anything.